Don’t put us in harm’s way
Testimonial by N.K., current bartender
1) As a current/former/future restaurant worker, how has the pandemic changed your perspective on the restaurant industry? How has it impacted your willingness to work in the industry?
In my opinion, the pandemic has effectively shined a light on the many systemic inequalities for restaurant workers. As most restaurant owners have become desperate to reopen or expand indoor dining to keep their businesses afloat, there is rarely sufficient consideration for their employees’ safety, let alone well-being. Few restaurants offer health insurance or other common benefits to their employees, and the majority of tipped workers are still compensated the archaic $2.83/hr. Before the pandemic, many front-of-house restaurant workers, such as myself, accepted the ebb & flow of business (therefore our incomes). Many folks attempt to save during the busy months in anticipation of the slow ones, but a global pandemic is not something any of us were capable of preparing for.
Since restaurants reopened last June, owners have been placing their employees in the crossfires of this virus. The CDC has shown that masks can prevent a person from spreading, but much less from being infected, and that indoor environments are optimum for infections. When restaurant workers are asked to come back to work, they become ineligible for unemployment should they decline to work. Should they accept, they put themselves and their families at severely high risk for infection. How can you ask this of employees? If anything, this pandemic has shown that we prioritize business over lives. If a restaurant owner loses their business and goes into debt, that is one family suffering. If a restaurant becomes ridden with COVID cases, that may lead to twenty to hundreds of families suffering. While I have empathy for owners in this predicament, I do not believe that their financial well-being outweighs the lives of their many employees. As the governor expands guidelines for restaurant capacity to placate business owners, they lead customers to believe this is a safe choice. To be frank, there are few things more insulting than listening to an unmasked bar guest complain about the inconveniences of the pandemic, while I stand, serving them, with no choice but to be here.
2) What would you like to see change in the restaurant industry? What changes would encourage you to return to work in a restaurant/food service environment?
I am a strong believer in the salary business model for restaurants. The tipping system is extremely outdated and creates an unreliable income for industry professionals (Not to mention that womxn, BIPOC, and queer folks are on average tipped lower than white cis men.) Many restaurant guests also do not understand the tipped worker system and use it as a power to grade a restaurant employee on their performance. Owners will argue that it is nearly impossible to pay FOH a living wage because that precedent has seldom been built into a restaurant’s business plan. Restaurants operate on a very slim profit margin, especially when they source their ingredients sustainably and refuse to cut corners. So what is the answer? A $20 sandwich instead of a $14 one? Can we effectively include some of the employees' wages in the cost of food & beverage without making the cost a deterrent to guests?
Additionally, one of the most difficult issues I grapple with within the service industry is sustainability and food waste. Restaurants waste an absurd amount of food in the creation of fresh, made-that-day dishes. Unlike a home refrigerator, where you take a gamble on how many days that leftover chicken has been sitting, food safety is a matter of integrity for chefs. So how do we reconcile these contrasting ideals of food integrity and fighting food scarcity in our communities? This city doesn’t lack a food supply, it lacks food accessibility (specifically fresh produce and proteins.) What keeps me in the restaurant industry and motivates me is that I believe restaurants can be a model for home cooks as to how to use seasonal produce, how to preserve & ferment, and how to make use of items that traditional fine-dining kitchens might discard. That kind of leadership is truly revolutionary.
3) What issues were you experiencing in the restaurant industry before the pandemic?
Before the pandemic, I struggled with the draining and irregular schedule that restaurant work often requires. I worked in restaurants throughout college and became accustomed to missing not just social events but holidays and family gatherings. This is an unforgiving profession that expects 24/7 flexible availability from employees, and often punishes them for asking otherwise. I’ve seen many servers lose shifts because they took a vacation; I’ve been guilted into giving up my days off; I’ve developed an unhealthy priority of work over mental health and personal well-being. This is all too common in service industry employees, and in addition to the demanding nature of the work and schedule, leads to high rates of mental illness and addiction. My greatest hope for the restaurant industry going forward is to focus on a healthier work-life balance for all employees. I don’t believe in being proud of how many doubles we can work in a row, or how we never took a sick day. I no longer buy into the glorification of labor abuse and hope that having these conversations will help others to advocate for themselves too.